If you can pry your eyes away from your glittering engagement ring for just a minute, then it’s time to start announcing your engagement to your friends and family. Sure you can immediately pick up the phone and start calling everyone a la the 1960’s or you can take the modern approach and plan one our fun ideas to get the word out. For some people, like your mom and dad you may want to tell more intimately but for relatives and friends, go all out!

Engagement Theme Party

Whether you and your fiancé are extroverts or introverts you can plan the perfect shindig to suit your style. Your party can be an intimate soiree with wine and cheese or a big blow out with a surprise announcement.

It’s the little details that make the big difference. For example, plan for you and your fiancé to wear white together, hide your ring until time to announce, or you can come right out with it and find “I Do” printed balloons at your local party shop. You can also get creative with your foods and treats with a tray of ring pops for everyone to wear, cupcakes and holders with a portmanteau of your names (Sheldon + Amy = ShAmy!) or whatever DIY thing you can think of to convey the message “I’M GETTING MARRIED!”

Announce Like a Celebrity

(Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin)

How do celebrities announce their engagements? They Don’t! They’re usually casually photographed by accident (yeah right LeAnn Rimes) wearing a pure stunner on their ring finger. You can take the celeb approach and just wear your ring and play it coy until the wedding invites arrive, or you can make up your own magazine cover with a fun photo of you and your beau pretending to not want to be photographed with you spotting your ring obviously. There are a number of sites that help you make fake magazine covers or if you’re particularly good at Photoshop it’s easier done than said.

Facebook

If you’re not the party type, a mass Facebook announcement definitely gets the message out. Try something as simple as changing your profile picture to your ring finger or updating your status to something like “FINALLY!” and let inquiring minds ask away. You can go all out and create a page, chronicling your relationship with pictures and updates and so forth and use it to update people on your wedding plans, party, progression etc. The news will definitely get out that you’re getting hitched.

Total PDA

(Photo Credit: oneheadlightink.com)

Big banners and public announcements aren’t only for big companies on a marketing campaign. If it’s in your budget and you’re comfortable with everyone sharing in your joy then announce with a bang, the engagement of a lifetime by purchasing a huge banner or billboard on a heavily accessed area. Then sit and wait for your phone to start blowing up as people who know and understand your relationship come to realize you two are the Samantha and Allen from the big banner! This idea works best if the majority of your friends and family live in a particular city or small town or island and would definitely pass your sign at some point.

Post a Slideshow

(Photo Credit: iStockPhoto)

Have you ever seen slide show videos on youtube? (What are we saying, of course you have!) A timeline styled slideshow using pictures from you were both children up until the moment you said (screamed) “yes, I will marry you” is a super cute idea. This can then be posted on any social media site of your choice and saved to hard copy and it’s something you’ll have to admire forever.

Let Us Tell Them!

When you create a Sandals gift registery for your destination wedding, they give you a bucket full of features to blow the horn on your wedding. Best of all, it’s free! We’re talking website, blog, e-announcements, RSVPs, the works.